Thursday, February 11, 2010

Laurence Cole, who scored a knockdown in favor of Marco Antonio Barrera against Manny Pacquiao years back, has been tapped to referee the March 13 fight between Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey at the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, ace boxing scribe Michael Marley reported Thursday.

A resident of Dallas, Cole is also the son of Texas boxing commission chief Dickie Cole and is regarded as one of boxing’s top arbiter, having officiated countless high-profile matches featuring Oscar De La Hoya, Erik Morales, and Edwin Valero.

But for Filipino fight fans, Cole is very unpopular, having ruled that Pacquiao was legitimately floored by Barrera when they fought at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in November 2003.

Cole, who is in the insurance business, began his refereeing job in 1990.

The names of the three judges will also be announced soon.

The Pacquiao-Clottey fight will be for the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown. (Tempo Sports)

Manny Pacquiao Profile

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao born December 17, 1978, more commonly known as Manny Pacquiao, is a Filipino professional boxer.

He is currently the WBO World welterweight champion, Ring Magazine light welterweight champion, and is rated by Ring Magazine as the number 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

He is also the former WBC World lightweight champion, WBC World super featherweight champion, IBF World super bantamweight champion, and WBC World flyweight champion. Furthermore, he is the former Ring Magazine featherweight and super featherweight champion.

Joshua Clottey Profile

Joshua Clottey (born in March 16, 1976 in Accra, Ghana) is a Welterweight boxer who hails from Accra, Ghana, but now lives in the Bronx, New York. He is the former IBF Welterweight Champion.